Mid-17th Century Oak Table with Column Turned Legs - Oak Side Table with Two Drawers
The earliest form of table for dining use was a simple trestle type, usually make of oak, with top of elm. Later, more solid constructions appeared, developing into the draw and refectory tables of the 16th century. The early forms of [...]

TABLES  dining, on four legs
A mahogany expanding dining table of a type often thought of as mid- or even late-Victorian but whose legs belie the later dates. Although the constructional form was used later, it originated in the 1830s and 1840s.
These legs are of a bulbous-and-baluster turning with collars, more popular initially in the 1840s [...]

TABLES  dining, mahogany multi-pedestal
A two pedestal table with column supports and curving legs having a dark inlaid stringing line. The centre leaf is supported by strong metal catches. Note that the tripods are not evenly spaced so that when the flap is taken out they can come together without clashing. c.1790
Similar to the first example [...]

TABLES  dining, Georgian extending
The limitations of the gateleg table are obvious; its size cannot be above a certain dimension and the legs get in the way of the diner. The George III D-end table resolved the first problem, although not always the second.
The concept of the D-end table is ingenious enough. The two D-ends, each [...]

TABLES - dining, mahogany gateleg, Chippendale and after
When one considers the revolution in design of chairs associated with the name of Chippendale, it is amazing that he never mentioned dining tables in his trade catalogues. His firm made gatelegs with D-ends among other complicated tables discussed in the next section but, perhaps justifiably, his name [...]

TABLES  dining, mahogany gateleg, shaped foot, 1735-1760
Just as the stretchers disappeared from chairs in the early part of the eighteenth century, so mahogany dining tables rid themselves of stretchers at much the same time. Perhaps it was the strength of mahogany or simply the desire to refine. Whatever the reason, some superb tables emerged. Good [...]

Tripod table
1. Made of heavy, dense mahogany.
2. Carving, dishing, piecrust or scalloping integral with table top, standing proud of the surface.
3. Grain of stem running from top to bottom without a break.
4. Proportions correct: when tilt top is vertical the sweep of the curve should not cut into the baluster, carving or decoration, or leave [...]

Queen Anne drop-leaf table
Although popularly known as `Queen Anne’, the drop-leaf table did not really come into widespread use until mahogany
Signs of authenticity
1. Heavy weight of mahogany –San Domingo or Cuban.
2. Grain of flaps and central fixed top all running parallel to joins.
3. Each piece of table top cut from a single piece of timber.
4. [...]

Late XVIII Century Tables
18th Century tables, although not described as such in Chippendale’s Director, were a new type of table. During the first half of the 18th century, people tended to sit at small tables to eat, arranged in groups in a dedicated eating room.
Around the 1750s, people began to eat at longer tables. Quite [...]